If Ashok's planet was in an ice apocalypse, in another world… in an alternate reality it was hell. Being the center of the extreme nuclear explosion this planet, rather than a nuclear winter lost most of its Ozone layer.
China, Korea, Japan, Dubai… every country in this world was a victim.
…
Let me take this moment to introduce… myself! Leo this stories main character…
Our story starts in an India-Dubai border City, where due to the high-temperature and limitation of supplies. A single Ice cream or cold drink, was enough to start a fights; skin cancer and heat strokes caused by radiation were common place, and temperatures outside could melt human skin.
On this world, those unfortunate enough to find themselves outside without special means would become sun-dried into 'turkey jerky'.
In this hellish desert like apocalypse world, water, ice, cool drinks, ice cream all these commodities were worth more than gold.
Yet also in this very city, there was a certain safe house that not only had an enormous ice cold indoor swimming pool. It also featured a 24/7 cooling system, endless supplies of ice cold drinks, smoothies, and virtually everything else.
All of this was possible with the help of the Infinite otherworld storage system, and also because I stockpiled enough supplies to last lifetimes.
But let's started with 1 year before apocalypse arrived…
On a bus heading towards the commercial capital, a group of people are chattering non-stop. "Hey, Beauty, did you see the news?"
"Everything in river south Border City's Wal-Mart and Demand Warehouses has been cleared out."
"Ha-ha, that's old news."
Take a look at today's breaking news. "The water in Border City's East Bright lake has dried up, and the warehouse of Big Prosperity Supermarket's empty too".
"Wow! All those supplies must be worth hundreds of billions at least, maybe even Trillions".
At that moment, a young man sitting alone in the last row by the window suddenly spoke up. "Actually, those supplies are worth hundreds of trillions"
From Dubai's Border City in the South to the India's Mumbai city in the north, all the large warehouse's have been emptied".
"They're probably not reporting it to avoid causing panic between two countries and their citizens".
"Oh my, with all the earthquakes and volcanoes… could it be the end of the world?"
"Damn, are you kidding me? How could this be?"
"If it really were the end of the world, I'd actually be kind of excited. That would be when everyone is truly equal"
Hearing all this, Leo who was sitting in the back smirked, his gaze deep like the ocean. '…Everyone equal?'
'Even if it were the end of the world, there would never be a day when everyone is equal, because I have experienced it myself' he sighed in his mind.
He had been reborn; returned to one month before the apocalypse's onset.
Although he didn't know why, but clearly fate had given him a second chance even though he was an ordinary delivery man.
The apocalypse happened following an abnormal release of solar energy, after the nuclear explosion.
The earth's core became far more active; as a result the surface temperatures rose sharply.
Frequent Seismic activities began to occur, and monsters hidden deep underground that we never knew actually existed emerged to the surface. The whole world changed.
After that it was 'New World, New Order'.
In that world of extreme scarcity a packet of instant Foods, people would sell or buy in exchange for everything they had. Some even sold their children for 'a packet of food'
"One had to give everything during that period just survive, and I'm lucky enough to be reborn. I need to make the most of this chance". Leo murmured to himself
As the bus came to a stop, a woman accidentally bumped into him dropping her thing. "Oh I'm sorry, I got a bit scared. Could you possibly…?"
But Leo simply waved his hand dismissively. "No, I have important things to do." Then he got off the Border City Mumbai local train and left.
The apocalypse was coming, so what's most important? Obviously it was supplies. He thought as he arrived in front of a Supermarket; as it turns out. Leo was an employee of the supermarket.
'In my past life, I wasted all my time looking for supplies so this time I must prepare in advance.' He mused looking at the rows of goods.
He approached the shelves, and with a sweep of his right hand all the goods vanished into thin air- transferred into an alternate space.
You see regression comes with a lot of perks, one of which turns out be some of his powers awakening early.
Luckily the most useful right now the alternate space was one of them. Though the draw back was that it was smaller, once he opened the alternate space everything around could be taken into it; its current size could fit half of Mumbai City if measured end to end.
This made it extremely convenient for him to acquire supplies en mass at no cost. It was with this ability he drained those two freshwater lakes. He also scavenged several cities doomed to destruction in the apocalypse and took anything valuable.
As his space kept swallowing items, his mind subconsciously wondered off to his pre-regression apocalypse experiences. 'In any apocalypse where a packet of instant food is hard to get, fresh food is the ultimate luxury. But I found the rules of the alternate space convenient, items stored in the space do not experience the flow of time...'
He instinctively checked the space's inventory, taking in the mental sight of everything neatly arranged as new additions appeared; then sorted themselves on entry. He felt so much relief "No eating out of the trash in this life."
He was making mental notes of the exact quantities, when new additions stopped flowing in; causing him to pull out and see what was going on. He pulled out to find himself in the supermarket warehouse, with nothing except the shelves themselves all but taken. 'This should be enough to last me a long time...'
After giving himself a pat on the back for another 'job' well done mentally; dropping any materials that were unnecessary. He was finally ready to leave, when the supermarket owner burst into the warehouse with a group of employees following the trail of missing goods. He's shock only grew when he found the huge warehouse was now completely empty.
Then he pointed at me and loudly demanded. "Leo, where are the warehouse supplies? I know you have something to do with them."
Leo just chuckled having done this before, he even felt like being cheeky. "Good morning to you Sir; as for the items? Let me think, where are they? I know… I took them all."
His boss flew into rage at his childish behavior. "What the hell did you do, you bastard? Grab him!"
However those poor worked couldn't do a thing as Leo took a step and disappeared in a flash, the employees only reached out to grasp at air.
Outside the warehouse a man could be seen stepping out of thin air and landing gracefully on his feet. You see his gift actually came with a plethora of abilities; the alternate space that could swallow and store supplies was only one of them.
Another one was 'Spatial step'; just like how his alternate space could swallow anything within the range of his spatial matrix. It could also enable him special jumps within three meters using it as a way point- this ability was also weakened.
When the apocalypse descended upon us, this skill allowed me to enter abandoned houses, buildings, warehouses, shelter-bases, and more for reconnaissance, to find supplies and most importantly to escape safely.
"I can't even count the number of times this saved me when I faced zombies, beasts and even other mutants." He murmured as he got farther away from the warehouse.
.
Now that he was far enough away, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. He checked his phone notifications and the trending searches and reports were all about strange supernatural incidents and disappearing supplies.
However, there were actual official messages from the government now. "Recently, the earth has been experiencing severe meteorological and seismic activity. As a result, in the coming days local natural disasters may occur at random. Please take precautions for yourselves but do not panic. The Situation is currently under control and will not affect everyone's daily life…"
"…so the government is trying to avoid panic? Then it's because they know the apocalypse is coming." Leo scoffed at the message; having just arrived at a bench, he was about to take a short nap.
But just then a call suddenly came in; the caller id read 'Ira. This name made his hand clench tightly; then after a moment he sighed and answered the call.
He hadn't even had the chance to say anything, not even a greeting and the first thing he heard was. "Leo why do you keep disappearing like this, it's childish?"
He wanted to say something when the voice continued. "You even listed the house with an agent? Do you think all I care about is I care about is your house?"
He tried talking but was cut off again "Then you're wrong. What I want is your sincerity and assurance. Think about it you have no parents, relatives or friends; so if you don't transfer the house to me. How can I feel secure being with you?"
He gave up trying and listened silently. "Where are you now? Wherever you are, hurry back. I've already contacted the manager; we can transfer the ownership today. Now all you have to do is give me the house and we can have the wedding next month…"
This time it was his turn to cut her off. "Is there anything else? … No? With that attitude, you can forget about ever marrying me. Also I'm on my way back from the commercial center; we'll talk when I get back."
With that said he hung up.
-----Audience
To Be Continued…